Use Contexts for the Mobile Internet: A Longitudinal Study Monitoring Actual Use of Mobile Internet Services

Abstract

The mobile Internet, which gives access to the World Wide Web through a mobile device, has been gaining in popularity. The mobile Internet differs from the traditional stationary Internet in that it can be used in a wider variety of contexts. However, no studies have identified the contexts in which mobile Internet services are used most frequently, or determined which contexts exert significant influence on a user's choice of mobile service. This article proposes a framework of use contexts that reflects the characteristics of the mobile Internet. To explore these contexts, a research method was devised and a longitudinal monitoring study was conducted.The results indicate that mobile Internet use is heavily clustered around a few key contexts, rather than dispersed widely over diverse contexts. Further, participants in the monitoring study were found to concentrate their use on a few mobile services, rather than on exploring diverse services. Perhaps most interestingly, some contextual factors were found to correlate closely with the selection of specific mobile Internet services. On the basis of these results, the article concludes with implications for developers of mobile Internet services.

An empirical investigation of mobile ticketing service adoption in public transportation

“…Similarly, Kakihara and Sørensen [20] postulate contexts as continuous frames for people's interaction with others. A more structured definition is provided by [21,22] who categorize context to physical environment and human/personal factors and provide more detailed subgroups within these categories. Belk [23] defined five categories of different situational characteristics including (1) physical context, (2) social context, (3) temporal context, (4) task definition specifying the task at hand and the role in which the task is performed; and (5) antecedent states defined by momentary moods or momentary conditions such as loose change available.…”

“…They conclude that technologies designed for mobile computing should be more flexible and adaptable to support tasks in altering environments. Lee et al [21] studied use contexts for mobile Internet services in Korea and found that contextual factors had significant correlations with specific types of mobile services. They further found that mobile Internet use was centered around a few key services and contexts.…”

“…First, the findings suggest that contextual factors affect consumer choice and selection criteria of mobile services depending on when, where and which services are used [15,29,30]. Further, as there are limited amount of typical and identifiable use contexts for certain mobile services [21] it is sensible to try to identify them and examine their effect on mobile service adoption and use.…”

Exploring Cross-Device Web Use on PCs and Mobile Devices

“…Cui and Roto [5] examined users' mobile web access logs, and found that mobile web use could be classified into four categories: information seeking, communication, transactions, and personal space extension. Lee et al [6] conducted a diary study in which users documented their experiences when using the mobile web, and found that users viewed a variety of sites in a variety of contexts. Other studies [7,8] have identified mobile search patterns from web search query logs.…”

A Gestalt theoretic perspective on the user experience of location-based services

“…They do not relate to mobile use context but look the same at home, on the bus, in a café, or walking down the street -situations with very different requirements (e.g. [24]). If we want to bridge the gap between interest and actual use of the mobile Internet, we must do better.…”